Method And System For Human Presence Correlation Using Carbon Dioxide

ABSTRACT

Method and system for detecting and/or quantifying recent human presence in an environment using a calculated rate of decay of carbon dioxide concentration levels within that environment. A sensor measures the change in carbon dioxide levels over time to calculate the rate of decay to equilibrium and extrapolate recent human presence. Also provided is a method and system for quantifying recent human activity in an environment using the calculated rate of decay to equilibrium.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the detection of recent human presence,and, more specifically, to a method for detecting recent human presencein an environment using the rate of decay of carbon dioxideconcentration levels within that environment.

2. Description of the Related Art

Real-time detection of human presence in an environment such as a home,car, or office can be advantageous for several reasons. Indeed, thereare many systems that detect human presence in real-time, includinglighting and ventilation systems, in order to reduce energy consumptionand costs or to improve the quality of the air within the space. Thesesystems use a variety of means to detect human presence in real-time,including sensor technologies such as gas concentration sensors,infrared detectors, seismic detectors, and other human presencedetectors. In limited applications, these systems can also quantify thereal-time human presence by determining the number of humans that arepresent in a space.

However, these systems are not capable of either detecting recent humanpresence once the space no longer has a human present or quantifyingrecent human presence once the space no longer has a human present. Oncethe environment or space is empty the sensor is no longer activated andis thus unable to determine human presence. Further, these systems arenot able to function in a space or environment that is not alreadyconfigured to contain a sensor. In other words, the human presencecannot be detected unless the sensor was in the room at the same time asthe human beings.

However, human presence will typically leave behind signatures that canbe detected and analyzed. Additionally, measurements of some signaturescan be quantitative such that the amount of recent human presence can bedetermined. Thus, there is a need for methods and systems that detectand/or quantify recent human presence.

BRIEF SUMMARY

It is therefore a principal object and advantage of the presentinvention to provide a method and system for detecting and/orquantifying recent human presence in an environment or space.

It is another object and advantage of the present invention to provide amethod and system for detecting and/or quantifying recent human presencein a space using carbon dioxide concentration levels.

It is yet another object and advantage of the present invention toprovide a method and system for detecting and/or quantifying recenthuman presence in a space using a calculated rate of decay of decaycarbon dioxide concentration levels.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will in part beobvious, and in part appear hereinafter.

In accordance with the foregoing objects and advantages, the presentinvention provides a method for detecting recent human presence in aspace. The method comprises the steps of: (i) measuring theconcentration of carbon dioxide within the space to obtain a firstcarbon dioxide measurement; (ii) measuring the concentration of carbondioxide within the space after a first period of time has elapsed inorder to obtain a second carbon dioxide measurement; (iii) optionallyobtaining additional carbon dioxide measurements; (iv) calculating thecarbon dioxide rate of decay using the second carbon dioxidemeasurements; (v) accepting a carbon dioxide concentration of interest;(vi) extrapolating the time at which the concentration of carbon dioxidein the space was approximately equivalent to the carbon dioxideconcentration of interest; and (vii) correlating the carbon dioxide rateof decay to a level of human presence in the space at the extrapolatedtimes for a set of candidate occupancy/time of departure pairs.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a system for detectingrecent human presence in a space. The system comprises: (i) measuringmeans configured to measure the concentration of carbon dioxide withinthe space to obtain a first carbon dioxide measurement and configured tomeasure the concentration of carbon dioxide within the space after afirst period of time elapses in order to obtain a second carbon dioxidemeasurement; (iii) calculating means configured to calculate the carbondioxide rate of decay using the carbon dioxide measurements; (iv)accepting means configured to accept a carbon dioxide concentration ofinterest; (v) extrapolating means configured to extrapolate the time atwhich the concentration of carbon dioxide in the space was approximatelyequivalent to the carbon dioxide concentration of interest; and (vi)correlating means configured to correlate the carbon dioxide rate ofdecay to a level of human presence in the space at the extrapolatedtimes for a set of candidate occupancy/time of departure pairs.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a computer programstored on a computer useable storage medium. The computer program isconfigured to implement a method for detecting recent human presence ina space, the method comprising the steps of: (i) measuring theconcentration of carbon dioxide within the space to obtain a firstcarbon dioxide measurement; (ii) measuring the concentration of carbondioxide within the space after a first period of time elapses in orderto obtain a second carbon dioxide measurement; (iii) optionallyobtaining additional carbon dioxide measurements; (iv) calculating thecarbon dioxide rate of decay using the carbon dioxide measurements; (v)accepting a carbon dioxide concentration of interest; (vi) extrapolatingthe time at which the concentration of carbon dioxide in the space wasapproximately equivalent to the carbon dioxide concentration ofinterest; and (vii) correlating the carbon dioxide rate of decay to alevel of human presence in the space at the extrapolated times for a setof candidate occupancy/time of departure pairs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated byreading the following Detailed Description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the human detection method according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a component schematic of a human detection system according toan embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is an example plot of a calculation used for determiningoccupancy numbers and/or departure times for an exemplar measurementset, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer tolike parts throughout, there is seen in FIG. 1 a flowchart of the humandetection method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The process begins at step 10 in some defined space 100 (not shown).Space 100 can be any partially or completely enclosed environment suchas a car, room, house, office, building, or any other structure ornatural space capable of sustaining a temporary rise in carbon dioxide(“CO₂”) levels in response to human presence. Preferably defined space100 has recently contained one or more human beings, especially at somepoint within the previous 2 hours. However, since the goal of thesystems and methods described herein is to determine whether one or morehuman beings were recently within space 100, it is not necessary thatthe space contain recent human activity.

At step 12, the initial concentration of CO₂ in space 100 is measured.There are many different methods and systems for measuring the amount ofCO₂ in the air, although the two most common are infrared gas sensorsand chemical gas sensors. Infrared gas sensors operate under theprinciple that CO₂ absorbs a specific wavelength of the electromagneticspectrum. The sensor measures the amount of that specific wavelengthwhich is absorbed, and this amount is proportional to the concentrationof the gas.

Proceeding to step 14, additional CO₂ measurements are optionallyobtained at one or more further time points. In a preferred embodimentthe system measures the concentration of CO₂ in space 100 using at leasttwo different time points; the initial concentration at time point 0 andthen the concentration at some later time point, with furthermeasurements being optional. At some length of time after human activityin space 100 has ceased, the concentration of CO₂ in the space willreach equilibrium and continued time points will likely not be useful.

The gas concentration measurements can optionally be formatted orotherwise adjusted to be received by an analysis algorithm. Once two ormore gas concentration measurements are obtained by the sensor overtime, the algorithm calculates the rate of decay of the CO₂concentration, as shown in step 16 of the flowchart in FIG. 1. The decayrate is the temporal reduction of the carbon dioxide concentration at agiven sampling point in space and is assumed to follow a first orderexponential decay law:

C(t)=C ₀ ·E ^(−kt)

where N(t) is the concentration of CO₂ at time t. Sampling the CO₂concentration at different time points will allow an estimation of thedecay parameter k. So, for example, if there is a measurement at time t₁and at a later point there is a measurement at time t₂:

C(t ₁)=C ₀ ·e ^(−kt) ¹

C(t ₂)=C ₀ ·e ^(−kt) ²

Now, taking the natural log of these:

ln(C(t ₁))=ln(C ₀)−k·t ₁

ln(C(t ₂))=ln(C ₀)−k·t ₂

And then take the difference of the two to get:

ln (C(t₂)) − ln (C(t₁)) = −k ⋅ (t₂ − t₁)$k = \frac{{\ln \left( {C\left( t_{2} \right)} \right)} - {\ln \left( {C\left( t_{1} \right)} \right)}}{\left( {t_{2} - t_{1}} \right)}$

Accordingly, with just two measurements there is an estimate of the rateof decay of the CO₂ level (k). In the case where more than twomeasurements are taken, a more optimal regression method such as a leastsquares fit can be employed. According to one embodiment, predictionsand/or inferences are made regarding the CO₂ concentration at an earliertime by use of a simple linear regression model based on our decayestimate and our measurements.

For a given enclosed area, the CO₂ concentration level is associatedwith the number of people present at a given time, and the mappingbetween the number of people, the enclosed area volume and CO₂concentration level is established as prior calibration/referenceinformation. This reference information together with the measurementand the estimated model parameters (e.g. CO₂ decay rate, k) then enablesthe system to automatically infer and present a prior occupancy/timeprofile. The reference information also provides the user with a set ofsuggested CO₂ levels corresponding to given potential human occupancynumbers. The user can use this information to specify CO₂ levels ofinterest for systems prediction.

At step 18, the system generates a multi-hypothesis occupancy/timeprofile which consists of a set of possible occupancy numbers andassociated time since exit, according to one embodiment. The systemestimates these by solution of the following time estimate equation:

$T_{j} = \frac{{\ln \left( C_{j} \right)} - {\ln \left( {C\left( t_{ref} \right)} \right)}}{k}$

where T_(j) is the time since the number of people (N_(j)) left thespace of interest. This step may not require any input from the user,since the reference CO₂ level, C(t_(ref)) can be selected from themeasurement set either automatically or by the user, and the decay ratecan be estimated as discussed above. The conversion from the CO₂concentration level to the occupancy number (N_(j)) is effected via, forexample, a priori reference tables. The reference tables provide themapping from CO₂ level to an occupancy level estimate. The referencetables can be constructed, for example, for a set of enclosed areatemplates, e.g. 8′×10′ room or 20′×40′ space, and many other variationsare possible. An example of an occupancy—“time since departure” chartfrom a calculation using the above equation and the associated table isgiven by FIG. 3 and Table 1, respectively. Note the CO₂ values,occupancy numbers and associated times are for example only.

TABLE 1 CO₂ Level (Predicted) Number of Occupants Time Since Departure0.47 1 9.16 0.72 2 19.15 1.13 3 25

In step 22, the analysis algorithm extrapolates the amount of time thathas elapsed since space 100 contained the CO₂ concentration of interest.With that information, the analysis algorithm can correlate the CO₂concentration of interest and the amount of time to the level of humanactivity. In one embodiment, the analysis algorithm takes intoconsideration the size and/or volume of space 100 when performing one ormore of the above calculations. The level of human activity can includethe number of people that are predicted to have occupied space 100. Inone embodiment, the level of human activity is determined from therelated functions of the number of people in the space as well as thephysical activity of the people in that space. For example, people whoare performing a sedentary activity such as sitting, standing, orconversing typically produce less CO₂—and therefore cause lower CO₂levels—than people who are physically active. Therefore, a certain CO₂level determined by the method and system described herein may indicatea number N of sedentary people who recently occupied space 100, whilethat same level may indicate a number X of physically active people whorecently occupied space 100, where X<N. The level of human activity canbe preset or automatically determined by algorithm or device, or can beinput or selected by the user depending upon a variety of factorsincluding prior information, the size of the space, the typical use ofthe space, and other factors.

In step 24, the user and/or the algorithm can decide whether to obtainfurther CO₂ measurements. Additional CO₂ measurements can be used, forexample, to further refine the results of the initial analysis. Iffurther measurements are to be obtained, the system returns to aprevious step such as step 12. If no further measurements are to beobtained, the method ends at step 26.

FIG. 2 is a component schematic of a human detection system 50 accordingto one embodiment of the invention. The system includes a sensor module60, which is configured to measure the concentration of CO₂ in space100. There are many different methods and systems for measuring theamount of CO₂ in the air, although the two most common are infrared gassensors and chemical gas sensors. The module can alternatively includeany known method of CO₂ measurement known to those skilled in the art.

After an initial CO₂ measurement is obtained, additional CO₂measurements are optionally obtained at one or more further time points.In a preferred embodiment the system measures the concentration of CO₂in space 100 using at least two different time points; the initialconcentration at time point 0 and then the concentration at some latertime point, with further measurements being optional. The process ofobtaining multiple timed CO₂ measurements can be fully automated withinhuman detection system 50, or can be determined by the user. In anautomated embodiment, system 50 contains a timer module 64 that causesthe system to pause for a specific amount of time—either fixed orvariable—between two or more CO₂ measurements. Timer module 64 can beany method of electronic timing known in the art, including electroniccircuits, capacitors, relay switches, mechanical timers,electromechanical timers, or digital counters, among others. Accordingto this embodiment, the signal to obtain the initial CO₂ measurementbegins a series of two or more measurements that are spaced apart intime by the timer. To accomplish this, timer module 64 must beconfigured to regulate sensor 60. In another embodiment, the user setsthe interval of time using a user interface, a button, a knob, or someother means of interaction with the timer module.

The system further includes a processor 62. The processor can be anymeans, mechanism, or method known in the art to perform one or moreoperations, including an electronic chip. The processor executes acomputer code which embodies an analysis algorithm.

In a preferred embodiment, the computer code is stored on anon-transitory storage medium, as shown by memory 66 in FIG. 2, whichcan also be configured to store one or more CO₂ measurements as well asthe output of the analysis algorithm, other variables of space 100,and/or other input from the user.

Processor 62 receives input from sensor 60 and/or memory 66, andoptionally from the user interface 68. Using that input the processorcan calculate the rate of decay of the CO₂ concentration, the amount oftime between a current CO₂ concentration and a previous CO₂concentration, and/or the level of human presence or activity in space100 at a previous time, among other outputs.

According to one embodiment of the present invention the gas sensor andthe storage medium containing the computer code which embodies theanalysis algorithm are components of a single device. In a preferredembodiment the device is a hand-held device which can be quickly andeasily transported from one location to another. In this embodiment, gasmeasurements can be either captured in a format that can be used by theanalysis algorithm, or can be automatically converted to a useableformat for the algorithm.

In another embodiment only one or a few components of the device, suchas the gas sensor, are transportable or enter space 100. In thisembodiment, gas measurements can be stored in memory within the devicefor later analysis or can be wirelessly transmitted to another physicallocation for storage or immediate analysis by the algorithm. The otherphysical location can be nearby or can be thousands of miles away,including in space.

The flowchart in FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of the systems andmethods according to several embodiments of the present invention.However, it should be noted that the blocks—which represent a step offunction of the method or system—can be completed in an order that isnot represented in the figure. For example, the systems or methods canbe completed by skipping one or more blocks, adding other blocks, orchanging the order of the blocks. The flowchart is meant to provide anexemplary embodiment of the present invention and is therefore notintended to limit the scope of the invention.

The above-described embodiments of the described subject matter can beimplemented in any of numerous ways. For example, some embodiments maybe implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. Whenany aspect of an embodiment is implemented at least in part in software,the software code can be executed on any suitable processor orcollection of processors, whether provided in a single device orcomputer or distributed among multiple devices/computers.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with apreferred embodiment, it should be understood that modifications,alterations, and additions can be made to the invention withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for detecting recent human presence in aspace, the method comprising the steps of: measuring the concentrationof carbon dioxide within said space to obtain a first carbon dioxidemeasurement; measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide within saidspace after a first period of time elapses to obtain at least a secondcarbon dioxide measurement; calculating the carbon dioxide rate of decayusing at least said first and said second carbon dioxide measurements;accepting a carbon dioxide concentration of interest; extrapolating thetime at which the concentration of carbon dioxide in said space wasapproximately equivalent to said carbon dioxide concentration ofinterest; and correlating said carbon dioxide rate of decay to a levelof human presence in said space at said extrapolated time.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein said space is a room.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the step of measuring comprises a carbon dioxide sensor.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said carbon dioxide concentration of interestis determined by a user.
 5. A system for detecting recent human presencein a space, the system comprising: measuring means configured to measurethe concentration of carbon dioxide within said space to obtain a firstcarbon dioxide measurement and configured to measure the concentrationof carbon dioxide within said space after a first period of time elapsesto obtain at least a second carbon dioxide measurement; calculatingmeans configured to calculate the carbon dioxide rate of decay using atleast said first and said second carbon dioxide measurements; acceptingmeans configured to accept a carbon dioxide concentration of interest;extrapolating means configured to extrapolate the time at which theconcentration of carbon dioxide in said space was approximatelyequivalent to said carbon dioxide concentration of interest; andcorrelating means configured to correlate said carbon dioxide rate ofdecay to a level of human presence in said space at said extrapolatedtime.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the measuring means comprise acarbon dioxide sensor.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein said sensor isan infrared gas sensor.
 8. The system of claim 5, wherein said carbondioxide concentration of interest is determined by a user.
 9. The systemof claim 5, further comprising a user interface.
 10. A computer programstored on a computer useable storage medium, the computer programconfigured to implement a method for detecting recent human presence ina space, the method comprising the steps of: measuring the concentrationof carbon dioxide within said space to obtain a first carbon dioxidemeasurement; measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide within saidspace after a first period of time elapses to obtain at least a secondcarbon dioxide measurement; calculating the carbon dioxide rate of decayusing at least said first and said second carbon dioxide measurements;accepting a carbon dioxide concentration of interest; extrapolating thetime at which the concentration of carbon dioxide in said space wasapproximately equivalent to said carbon dioxide concentration ofinterest; and correlating said carbon dioxide rate of decay to a levelof human presence in said space at said extrapolated time.
 11. Thecomputer program of claim 10, wherein said space is a room.
 12. Thecomputer program of claim 10, wherein said carbon dioxide concentrationof interest is determined by a user.